\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kathryn sat in the main conference room for this location of Big Four Consulting. This time, she wasn\u2019t the one pitching, but the one being sold. Well, sold wasn\u2019t exactly it. A vendor was launching a new project and had just opened up the marketing war chest. Big Four Consulting was being paid to sell this product, so a more accurate statement would be Kathryn was being instructed on what she was to sell.<\/p>\n
Pytho Corporation had just expanded its ERP product into a complete banking product. They weren\u2019t happy with having the world\u2019s most unreliable, yet best-selling database. They wanted more. Every Big Four Consulting account manager in the room was being given a box of Cds containing PowerPoint slides and marketing PDF files on how to sell this product. The heads of sales were handing out their cards and shaking hands. They paid very special attention to the three people on the other side of the room as those three people came from the Langston Group.<\/p>\n
Kathryn had to laugh at the phrase \u201cindustry analyst.\u201d These people analyzed nothing. They were all given a folder with a printed document and a CD with a Word file of the same document. The document was a marketing article carefully written to sound like an analyst report. Margret knew that the English majors working at Big Four Consulting had spent about a week writing that article, but when it appeared in the Langston Group\u2019s private newsletter it was going to have only these three listed in the byline.<\/p>\n
The industry had turned a blind eye to the incestuous relationship that spawned its leaders these days. Now that management had taken over the IT world, the leaders were pretty much a result of inbreeding just like other areas of management. It really was a self-sustaining machine.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndustry analyst\u201d groups would provide their insight only to IT leaders whose companies not only subscribed to their service, but promised to follow their advice. In return, IT leaders found themselves featured in industry trade rags any time they implemented something the analysts claimed was cutting edge. This allowed the IT leaders to be covertly marketed to other companies who wanted to obtain great IT leaders.<\/p>\n
Of course, the leaders at major IT vendors all subscribed to the service. This allowed them to write articles for the analysts that would be featured in the newsletter and magazine. These vendors also paid big consulting firms to train a few of their account people as experts for marketing purposes and a few more as technical experts. For a fee, and a cut of the sale, the big consulting firms would then pitch the product as the be-all and end-all to their clients\u2019 needs. This had been going on so long in the industry it was now considered an accepted practice.<\/p>\n
The weekly trade press was at the mercy of the \u201cindustry analysts.\u201d Whenever advertising revenue fell off they would run an article or three questioning the credibility of the firms, but never actually do anything close to investigative journalism. They relied too heavily on the money the \u201cindustry analysts\u201d spent promoting service subscribers in their magazines. Of course, they couldn\u2019t grumble too loudly or report too accurately. If that happened, the \u201cindustry analysts\u201d would contact all of their subscribers and the entire stream of advertising revenue would cease to flow. Weekly trade rags went out of business when they went up against the \u201cindustry analysts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kathryn had to hand it to the Langston Group. They had turned fraud into an art. Most of the analysts drove really nice rides that were leased for them by the IT vendors, so there was never a money trail showing on the books. They could open up their books and show clear lines of demarcation between marketing and analyst efforts. The analysts themselves took their perks in leased cars, information junkets, and outright paid vacations, all on the sly. How they could stand there and claim \u201cHolier Than Thou\u201d to the \u201csex for sale\u201d marketing tactic of big consulting companies Kathryn would never understand. Maybe they were really born without a soul,<\/i> she thought.<\/p>\n
Once the presentation was over, Kathryn and the Langston Group analysts were offered lunch. The restaurant was four-star so Kathryn accepted. She had no illusion as to why she was being given the full treatment. She held the account of First Global Bank. This vendor needed to land that account and get the bank to announce a glowing report on the software. The \u201cindustry analysts\u201d had a better lunch engagement, so they had to bow out.<\/p>\n
At the restaurant there was the usual small talk about the product and how game-changing it was. When the vendor was buying, their product was always game-changing. Kathryn decided to twist the knife just a little, stating that the presentation didn\u2019t seem to cover much on the international flavor of the product. She was quickly assured that Pytho had spared no expense in making the product multi-lingual. From what Kathryn saw in the presentation this product was about as multi-lingual as Microsoft\u2019s operating system was multi-platform. You could use this product in any country you wanted as long as you spoke English. You could run Microsoft\u2019s operating system on any computer you wanted, so long as it was a x86 clone and not a real computer.<\/p>\n
Since they didn\u2019t understand the gist of Kathryn\u2019s dig, she expanded on it by saying, \u201cI was thinking more along the lines of international mortgage and banking laws. If I\u2019m going to pitch this product to my client it must be certified to conform to all of the mortgage and banking laws in all of the countries where they do business. To start with, that would be Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, and Germany. I assume you\u2019ve already had a team of auditors verify it conforms to the banking laws for passbook savings and mortgages in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was a lot of smiles and silence at the table as Kathryn took another drink of wine. Pytho Software hadn\u2019t bothered with testing for any countries other than Canada and the United States. At the time of development they were figuring on gradually handling the other countries. Then again, the Asian financial crisis hadn\u2019t happened until the middle of development and it was too late to change course. Now the one client they wanted had operations in many countries. Kathryn had them by the nads and everybody at the table knew it.<\/p>\n
An awkward silence continued for quite a few minutes as Kathryn continued eating her meal. Always drop a bomb like that after food is served,<\/i> Kathryn thought. It gives you something to do while they squirm. Damn, I\u2019m good at this!<\/i><\/p>\n
Just prior to the check arriving, the leader of the pack stated, \u201cWe would like to retain your services for a globalization project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kathryn responded, \u201cI will have to talk it over with my boss. I\u2019m supposed to remain completely dedicated to the First Global Bank account until we complete our work there. What you really need me to do for you is to assemble the team that will provide you the banking rules for each country you target and provide testers to ensure those rules are met. If you complete such a project inside of a year, I can present your product to my client. Such an effort will not be cheap and my client would be expecting an amazing deal if they are going to be the first company to use this product out of the gate. You would in no way recoup your development costs on the first sale, it would probably take ten<\/span><\/span> sales just to recover this new effort before you could start recovering your prior investment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnderstood,\u201d replied the leader.<\/p>\n Kathryn couldn\u2019t remember any of their names and hadn\u2019t bothered to write on their cards so she had to make one last gesture before owning this account. \u201cIf you have the authority to sign or present such a deal to your board, please give me another one of your cards so I may pass it onto my boss. He will then contact you when we have a number and a plan for you.\u201d Without any hesitation Kathryn was handed a card.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, this lunch has been quite productive I think,\u201d said Kathryn. \u201cI had planned to spend my lunch hour at the Mercedes dealer down the street from the office pricing out a new car, but I think my time was better spent here.\u201d Yes, it was an evil knife to twist, but Kathryn decided she should have the same perks as the industry analysts. A look from the leader to one of the others at the table brought the response Kathryn had intended to get.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t have plans after work I would be happy to go there with you. Our company has a leasing arrangement with Mercedes Corporate so I\u2019m sure we can get a very special deal for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Kathryn could already smell the new leather of her convertible Mercedes.<\/p>\n Back at the office Kathryn quickly informed her boss about the details of the lunch, sans the new Mercedes detail. He called in a few account reps who had clients doing auditing work in the countries in question. A task list of phone calls to make and numbers to obtain was passed out. True to her word, Kathryn handed over the business card. When the others had left the room Kathryn\u2019s boss said: \u201cAnother whale like this and you will be in line for senior partner.\u201d Kathryn smiled and went back to her desk, waiting for the phone to ring. The man buying her a new car was supposed to call at 4:30.
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You are reading a special promotional version of \u201cInfinite Exposure\u201d containing only the first 18 chapters. This is the first book of the “Earth That Was” trilogy. You can obtain the entire trilogy in EPUB form from here:<\/p>\n